Nán’an Residential Area, as a low-cost rental housing community, has almost reached the limit of land-use efficiency. Every residential building looks like a huge rectangular concrete pillar. The spacing between buildings was designed without considering sunlight exposure at all.
Luo Feng’s home was in one of the residential buildings with 36 floors, on the 32nd floor.
“Ah Feng, going to the martial arts hall tonight?” Wei Wen walked towards another residential building.
“Tonight I have tutoring work to do. After it finishes, I might go to the martial arts hall, but the time is uncertain. Don’t wait for me tonight.” Luo Feng smiled and waved his hand, then quickly ran up the stairs. He took four steps at a time, like a swift leopard. In the blink of an eye, he reached the second floor.
Third floor, fourth floor…
“Tap, tap!”
While sprinting, Luo Feng was light and agile, occasionally stepping aside to let residents pass.
“Ah Feng, back from school?”
“Yes, Uncle Wang.” Luo Feng’s breathing was completely steady. As an advanced martial arts academy student, climbing stairs at this speed was no different from walking.
In the low-cost housing area, most residents had agreed not to install elevators. Once elevators were built, they would have to pay higher rent. Moreover, for most people nowadays, climbing dozens of floors was still an easy task.
To them, installing elevators in residential buildings was a luxury.
After all, electricity was expensive, because the city’s entire “defence system” was powered by electricity. The whole country was in urgent need of electric energy.
※※※※※※
32nd floor.
On this floor, there were eight households in total, and Luo Feng’s home was one of them.
Click.
Using his key, Luo Feng opened the door.
“Brother, you’re back?” A voice came from inside the room.
“Yes.” Luo Feng closed the door and glanced around. The whole home was visible at a glance. It was a one-bedroom, one-living-room layout with an area of 36 square metres.
He, his younger brother, and their parents, four people in total, had lived in this 36-square-metre space since he could remember.
“Ah Hua, what are you reading?” Luo Feng walked towards the small balcony.
On the balcony, a thin teenage boy with slightly pale, unhealthy skin was sitting in a wheelchair, holding an English book. Luo Feng glanced at it and smiled.
“Oh, it’s about the investment master Price? Among investment experts, isn’t Warren Buffett the most famous?”
Luo Feng knew nothing about investment or stocks.
“Buffett’s theories are not very suitable for me. Price’s theories and ideas are closer to my thinking, and they are useful for reference.” The thin boy looked up at Luo Feng and smiled slightly.
“Keep reading then.” Luo Feng smiled.
Unintentionally, Luo Feng’s gaze fell on his brother’s legs, and his heart ached slightly.
His brother had his legs crushed in childhood by a car, both thighs completely destroyed, leaving him disabled. For a disabled person, surviving in today’s society was extremely difficult. He could only study through online education.
Long-term lack of sunlight had made his brother’s face pale and sickly.
He also had few friends, making him introverted.
“Our parents’ salaries are not high, and they have to support both me and my brother. My brother is disabled, so the burden on the family is too heavy. We can only live in this low-cost housing.”
“My brother rarely interacts with society. In the future, finding a wife will be very difficult. Who would be willing to marry someone with both legs disabled?”
“I must change the fate of my entire family.”
Luo Feng thought silently.
“Why haven’t I pursued Xu Xin, even though I have a crush on her? Why haven’t I dated anyone?”
“The law says you can marry at 18, so many people start dating in high school and get married after graduation. Very few don’t date in high school. Why am I different?”
“Because I don’t have time to waste on relationships. My family is not rich, and I have no powerful teachers to guide me. I can only rely on myself.”
His gaze fell on the old sofa in the living room, which could be unfolded into a bed.
“For so many years, the four of us have lived in this small one-bedroom place. My brother and I share the only bedroom, while my parents have always slept on the sofa in the living room.”
“I must let my parents and brother live in a bigger house, a house with an elevator.”
“Let my parents sleep properly on a real bed.”
“Let my brother not struggle every time he goes downstairs.”
“The house must have large floor-to-ceiling windows so sunlight can fully shine in.”
He had repeated these thoughts in his mind countless times. That was why he had worked so hard since childhood.
That was also why, among 5,000 students in the Third High School, he became one of only three students to obtain the title of “Advanced Martial Arts Academy Student”. Among those three, he was the only one from an ordinary family. The other two came from wealthy backgrounds.
…
The tap water flowed continuously until the electric kettle was filled.
After plugging in the kettle, Luo Feng sat on the sofa holding a history book, memorising key points.
Suddenly—
Beep.
The kettle finished boiling. Luo Feng put down the book, poured the water into a thermos flask, and filled a large plastic cup with hot water.
“In 2026 AD, the ‘Hongze Battle’ occurred at Hongze Lake… hmm, 2026.”
He memorised historical events one by one. Among all his subjects, mathematics was his strongest. However, he was most interested in history, because whenever he studied 21st-century history…
He could not help but feel amazed.
It was a period of human transformation.
“Ah Hua.” Luo Feng walked to his younger brother.
“Brother, what is it?” Luo Hua put down his book.
“There are 139 key points in this book. I’ve marked them. Test me.” Luo Feng handed over the history book.
Luo Hua smiled and took it.
“Alright, rare chance to test you, brother. Listen carefully, I’m going to ask questions. If you get them wrong, it’ll be embarrassing.”
“Ask away.” Luo Feng smiled and sat on the sofa.
“Who, by single-handed strength, killed the ‘Tiger-Headed Flood Dragon’ on the banks of the Yangtze River, saved hundreds of thousands of civilians, helped them relocate to the Jiangnan base, and died heroically? Where was he from? How old was he when he died? What was the exact date?”
Luo Hua asked while flipping through the book.
“That hero was ‘Dong Nanbiao’, posthumously awarded the Four-Star Hero Medal. He was originally from Taixing, Jiangsu. He died at 39 years old. The date should be 2018…”
Luo Feng frowned slightly.
Luo Hua immediately followed up, “Exact date, which day in 2018?”
“Hmm… I think…” Luo Feng hesitated, “maybe June 18th?”
“Haha, you got the first question wrong.” Luo Hua shook his head. “It was indeed Dong Nanbiao from Taixing, and he died at 39, but the correct date is 16 June 2018.”
“Ah!”
Luo Feng slapped his forehead and smiled bitterly.
“I always mix up the 16th and the 18th. Next question.”
“Alright, listen carefully…”
…
The brothers continued asking and answering, and time passed quickly.
“I’ve already tested half the book. I asked 68 questions. You got 63 right and 5 wrong.” Luo Hua looked at the clock on the wall. “Mom and Dad are coming back. I’ll ask you the last question for today. Next time I’ll test the rest.”
“The last question? Alright.”
Luo Feng focused.
“This one is the most basic. Summarise the main events of the Great Nirvana Period.”
Luo Feng’s expression turned serious.
“The Great Nirvana Period was the most important phase of human transformation. In the early 21st century, global viral outbreaks kept appearing, from SARS in 2003, to the H1N1 influenza in 2009, and in 2013 the more dangerous R-type virus appeared. During its spread, it mutated into over twenty variants, making control increasingly difficult. All countries in the world recorded deaths.”
“As containment efforts continued, the outbreak was eventually controlled.”
“However, in January 2015, the R-type virus evolved into its most terrifying variant, known as the RR virus.”
“Most previous R-type variants spread through bodily fluids, and some through water, but could not survive long in water. However, this RR virus could spread through bodily fluids and water flow. Most terrifyingly…”
“It could spread through air. It could survive in the atmosphere for up to three hours!”